When comparing World of Goo vs Desktop Dungeons, the Slant community recommends World of Goo for most people. In the question“What are the best Puzzle games on Steam?” World of Goo is ranked 2nd while Desktop Dungeons is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose World of Goo is:
A lot of attention has been put into creating interesting levels with great pacing and variety throughout the game.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great variety in puzzles
A lot of attention has been put into creating interesting levels with great pacing and variety throughout the game.
Pro Beautiful visual style
World of Goo is pleasing to look at. Most of the time it's very colorful and joyful, but it changes from time to time to reflect different parts of the world. Nevertheless, it is stylistically well presented throughout the game.
Pro A twisted tale
As you start playing there doesn't seem to be much of a story. A few philosophical messages left behind by the Sign Painter and a cut-scene here or there. But as you progress through the game you unearth different details about a slightly disturbing world.
Pro Good, funny music
Each level has good and very funny music.
Pro Excellent physics engine
Physics in-game take into account gravity, wind, weight of different goo-balls, structural integrity of your architectural solutions to create an addictive, "let me try this one more time"-type of gameplay.
Pro Mix of puzzle and roguelike
The game gets its roots from roguelikes, and the complexity of the combined genre really enhances the puzzle solving side of the game.
Instead of being real time, or taking place in a large expansive world, Desktop Dungeons games take place on a small 20x20 dungeon. Although the map is small, there is tons of strategy to figuring out the optimal way to clear the dungeon. Unveiling tiles is how you recover health and mana, so the game is fundamentally about efficiently using the tools and resources available to you in each map and coming up with unique strategies in such a small space. You must balance the risk between trying to get experience from exposed monsters and exploring deeper into the fog of war.
Pro Tons of character combinations
There are 7 races and 12 classes that are combinable as well as 4 extra monster classes that do not allow choosing of race making for 112 unique combinations, all with their own custom avatar. There are also 6 additional special races as well as 9 different gods you can worship during the game for even more abilities.
Pro Great for short bursts of play
Since each game takes place in one small dungeon, it's a great game to play in small bits of downtime.
Pro Humorous tone
The game doesn't take itself too seriously with lots of clever dialogue parodying the fantasy genre.
Pro Deep amount of content keeps strategy interesting and fresh
Even though the core gameplay is simple, the amount of power-ups and enemies create a massive amount of ways to play the game which keeps the puzzle solving aspect fresh.
Cons
Con No co-op mode
The PC version does not include the co-op mode that was included in the Wii Ware version.
Con While polished the graphics are still simple
Compared to other modern roguelikes the graphics are pretty minimal where the characters are tile based and lack animation when moving.
Con Hidden map means you can't solve the puzzles on logic alone
The map is hidden by fog of war until you explore it, meaning you can't devise a solution from the start. Because revealing the map regenerates your health and mana you can't explore everything at the start. You need to spend most of the game not knowing the state of the rest of the map.